Unexpected Directions
by LittleInsanity
Summary: Steph discovers something she didn't know that she was looking for
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All the characters are the property of Janet Evanovich, I have just taken them out to play and promise to put them back unharmed.

Thank you to my beta rangergirl1234 for the great job she did of making sense of my ramblings. Any mistakes are mine.

* * *

I watched as flames consumed yet another of my POS cars. From this distance it was quite a pretty scene with the flashing lights from the fire trucks contrasting with the flames only this time it wasn't my fault. In fact, I hadn't even been near it. My musings about toasting marshmallow and s'mores - _hey it was dinner time - _were rudely interrupted by Joseph Morelli, one of TPDs finest. He was my on again and off again boyfriend. At the moment we were very off-but unfortunately he didn't see it that way.

"Do you realize how much of an embarrassment you are? You are a disgrace to your family and me. When are you going to come to your senses and give this up? You should be at home cooking my dinner, keeping my house clean and raising my children like a good burg wife."

Funny, I didn't know that a person could go that shade of purple and now that I come to think of it, I was seriously starting to wonder if that vein in his neck should really be standing out like that. His voice was getting louder as he carried on ranting at me and the onlookers had turned from watching the drama on the road to the Steph and Joe show – _maybe I could sell tickets and make some money_. I was no longer listening at this point; I wasn't about to explain that it wasn't my car that had been targeted. He'd never understand that it had just been parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. Big Dog and Eddie had already taken my statement and then they had taken my skip down to the station to get him processed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shiny black SUV pull up and Lester and Bobby jumped out. I turned and started to walk towards them when Joe grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" he yelled as he yanked my arm forcefully to pull me towards him. I stumbled over an uneven place in the side walk and the next thing I knew there was a crack and blinding pain radiating throughout my arm. I immediately saw spots in front of my eyes from the pain. Joe let me go and I sat down rapidly, cradling my arm.

Bobby hurried towards me while Lester headed towards Joe, who was backing up rapidly. Lester had the Rangeman blank face on but I could feel the anger radiating from him. I took a quick second to glance down at my arm and noticed it was bent in an unnatural position. The pain was bringing tears to my eyes but I struggled not to let them fall. I glanced back up to the scene unfolding in front of me and saw that Lester was just about to descend on Joe. Eddie and Big Dog were making their way over to Joe after having witnessed what happened.

"Lester, leave him. He's just not worth it," I whimpered as Bobby knelt down beside me to inspect my arm. My voice may not have been loud but it got through to Lester. He spoke a few words to Eddie and then shoved Joe towards Big Dog. They instantly pulled Joe over to one of the cop cruisers and huddled around him with fierce looks on their faces. Lester was quickly at my side and knelt on the other side of me and cradled me in his arms. It was a comforting feeling that I let surround me and help take the away some of the pain. By this time the EMT had realized there was a problem and had come to check me over as well.

I recognized the EMT as a girl named Lizzie Caldwell. In high school she had been in the same year as me but had escaped the Burg after school to go and see what life outside the Tri-state area was like. Her arrival back in Trenton, with her declaration that she wasn't moving back to the Burg, had managed finally to turn the gossip machine towards her and away from my divorce from 'the Dick'. It had been a great few weeks for me.

I realized that Bobby had stopped talking to Lizzie and was now talking to me. I caught the last few words and heard him say "... should have it looked at". I looked at him blankly and he realized that I hadn't heard what he said. "You need to go with the EMT to the hospital and get your arm looked at". I moved slightly from my position in Lester's arms to look him in the eye. "Can't I go with you guys? You know how much I hate hospitals. Please?"

Lester's reply was cut off by a message on Bobby's phone. He read it and looked at Lester. "Zero has been shot; it's nothing serious but he's on his way to St Francis. Looks like we're heading that way anyway, so we can take Steph and make it a family outing."

By this point the pain relief the EMT had given me on an empty stomach meant I was feeling little pain and my head was spinning, so the thought of a 'family' outing to the hospital was amusing to me. I spent the trip working out the logistics of having the 'merry men' as my family and hadn't realized we were stopped just outside the entrance. Bobby opened the door and helped me out of the truck, making sure my arm was protected.

"Thanks bro," I giggled. I watched as he looked at Lester and raised an eyebrow. Lester just shrugged his shoulders.

Inside we split up and Bobby went to find Zero, while Lester waited with me while I had my arm x-rayed and a cast put on. After that we headed back to find Zero, who had just had stitches and was now having the top of his arm covered to protect them. The bullet had gone straight though the fleshy part on his arm and thankfully hadn't done any serious damage. Tank had come in with Zero, so while Bobby was getting a handover allowing Zero could be released into his care, the three of us moved into the hallway.

Tank raised his eyebrow at Lester and then looked at my newly plastered arm –_ what was it with the single eyebrow raise ? _Obviously he hadn't heard about this evenings' entertainment. I filled him in with the story of how yet another car of mine had gone to car heaven-thanks to a disgruntled employee who had decided to firebomb his boss's car and in the process taken mine and two others with it- while Lester told him about the 'discussion' I had been having with Joe when they arrived and the resulting injury.

By the time he had finished I was standing there with four 'Merry Men' who were definitely not merry and radiating anger in all directions. From the looks we were getting I thought it might be a good time to get out. At that point my stomach growled as a reminder that it was a long way past dinner and they all looked at me. The tension reduced when Lester laughed at me and suggested a trip to Shorty's to feed the animal in me.

I sat in the back while Bobby drove and Lester rode shotgun. They were both in the zone as we drove, so I was left to my own thoughts. I was glad we were going to Shorty's. I didn't like the thought of running into Joe if we went to Pino's. I knew I had to deal with him and my mother eventually, but tonight I just wasn't in the mood. I turned my phone back on and looked at the number of missed calls. I knew at least half would be from my mother; there always were when there were flames involved, and the remainder was probably from Joe. I quickly came to the conclusion that a few more hours of denial wouldn't hurt, so I turned it the phone off again. I was the queen of denial, and on days like this it served me well.

When we pulled up there were already a couple of Rangeman vehicles parked in prime position near the door and we stopped in an empty space next to them. I started wondering if other cars moved by themselves to free up these spots when they saw Rangeman vehicles coming or if time and space warped to create extra spaces for them. I quickly decided either the drugs I had taken for my arm were affecting my mind or I had been watching too many sci-fi marathons with Dougie and Mooner. Lester opened the door and lifted me out of the SUV, then slung his arm over my shoulders to guide me into Shorty's.

The table at the back was already filled with Woody, Hector, Hal and Cal, so Tank and Lester pulled another table and some chairs over while Bobby ordered extra pizza and drinks for us. Cal and Hal were telling Zero that he needed to move quicker and maybe he was getting too old to be out in the field. Since they were both older than him he retorted that in that case they should be in a nursing home and he looked at Hal as he pointed out that at least he hadn't been shot in the butt. Hal was never going to live down the fact that a month earlier a bullet had ricocheted off a wall behind him and hit him in the butt. He'd escaped pretty much unharmed and only had trouble sitting for a few days after. This reminder caused the rest of the table to laugh and poor Hal to go red. I always liked being with the Merry Men on nights like this- watching them laugh and joke with each other and feeling a part of the group. They didn't make me feel inadequate or a failure like some people did – _my mother and Joe came to mind. _I noticed Hector ask Lester something in Spanish and whatever Lester said in reply caused Hector to get a grim look on his face. Lester shook his head and said something else that caused Hector to smile. It was not a nice smile and I wished I spoke Spanish so I would know what had been said.

The waitress arrived with our food and drinks, almost dropping them over Tank when Lester smiled at her. His smile wasn't quite as devastating as Rangers, but it was still able to stun any female within range. I had decided a long time ago that this was a required Rangeman trait, being able to stun with a smile at twenty paces. As soon as she sat the pizza down we all grabbed a piece. I hadn't eaten since lunch and with everything that had happened I was now starving. I took the first bite and closed my eyes, enjoying the flavors and the texture of the delicious pizza. I gradually realized that it was suddenly quiet around me and I opened my eyes to see the guys staring at me with pained expressions.

"Beautiful, are you trying to kill us?" Lester groaned. I grinned at them and took another bite, trying not to moan. The conversation picked up again as Hector told the rest of us about the installation that Woody and he had been doing and how the owner's wife had been trying to flirt with Woody until Hector had wrapped his arm around him and told her that they were together. This caused roars of laughter around the table until we realized that the rest of Shorty's had stopped what they were doing to look at us. We finished the pizza and I ordered dessert to go while the guys paid. We made our way to the doors and back into the SUV. Lester and Bobby drove me back to my apartment and as we pulled in to the spot by the door I noticed that the light was on in my apartment. I was pretty sure I had turned all the lights off prior to leaving so I scanned the lot. Sure enough, I noticed Joe's truck parked in the corner by the dumpster. After my earlier run in with him I had no wish to see him alone. I had never seen Joe so out of control as he was earlier and now, if I were honest with myself, I was scared of him. If he would break my arm in front of two of the Rangemen, what _would_ he do if we were alone?

"Hey Beautiful, since the boss is in the wind at the moment, why don't you stay on seven? Or if you want company I'm sure I can find space in my bed for you," Lester suggested as he waggled his eyebrows at me. This was quickly followed by Bobby hitting him around the back of the head and me laughing at his pouting. "Well, I guess that's ok. I mean, I think I'll stay on seven. It's probably safer for you," I chuckled. "I do need to get Rex and some clothes though."

Bobby called Woody and Hector and explained the situation and they soon joined us. The guys escorted me up and started to open the door for me. The door was flung open and an angry Joe was standing there looking furious.

"Cupcake, where the hell have you been? And what are you doing with these thugs?" He yelled as he reached out to grab my good arm. By this time Lester had pulled me back and Hector had moved in front of me, so he grabbed Hector instead. The next thing Joe knew he was on the floor with Hector and Woody standing over him.

"I could ask what _you_ are doing breaking and entering. This is my apartment Joe and the only thug around here is you." I yelled back as I headed into the bedroom with Bobby to pack for my stay at Haywood. Even though Bobby had seen me in various states of undress when he treated me I still felt uncomfortable with him going through my underwear. When I came back out Joe was sitting on the couch with Hector and Woody standing guard. Lester was holding Rex and my cookie jar.

"This is your last chance Cupcake, nobody is going to want you after you have finished whoring yourself to these thugs. I bet that when they find out how boring you are in bed they won't keep you around very long," he sneered.

Hector and Woody looked at me and I shook my head. "He isn't worth the effort," I said as I walked to the door. Lester followed me down to the SUV, carefully placing Rex and the cookie jar on the seat and helping me in. We were followed by Hector and Woody who were escorting Joe, and Bobby who was carrying my bag after having locked up my apartment behind them.

As they reached Joe's truck I watched as Joe suddenly took a wild swing at Woody, who easily managed to dodge the fist coming towards him. The next thing Joe was on the floor twitching and Hector was smiling, stun gun in hand. "See, I did not hit him, angelita". I smiled at Hector as he and Woody picked Joe up and 'helped' him into his truck while Bobby put my bag in the back of the SUV. After making sure that Joe was 'comfortable', we headed back to Haywood.

By the time we pulled into the underground parking garage, the effects of the drugs I had been given earlier were starting to wear off and my arm was throbbing. Bobby noticed that I was in pain and while the others took me and my belongings to the seventh floor he headed off to get me some pain relief. Lester placed my cookie jar and Rex on the kitchen counter while Hector placed my bag in the bedroom. Hector helped me into the kitchen and then bent down to give me a kiss on the forehead then he and Woody headed back down to the control room on five.

I left Lester in the kitchen while I went to change, raiding Rangers drawer for one of his shirts. The lingering smell of his Bulgari on it made me feel warm and safe. I opened the bedroom door to see Bobby and Lester sprawled on the couch, watching the TV. I stood watching them for a while before Bobby realized I was there. He smiled at me as he stood to escort me back to bed, making sure I was comfortable before handing me a couple of pain killers. "They have a mild sedative, so they should help you sleep," he explained.

By this time Lester had made his way into the bedroom. "Are you sure you don't wan t me to stay Beautiful? I can protect you from monster that go bump in the night," Lester suggested with a grin.

"The only thing likely to go bump in the night is _you_ Santos," Bobby said with a laugh. They both gave me a kiss on the head and let themselves out of the apartment. I snuggled down, relaxing into the pure bliss that was Rangers bed and drifted off to sleep.

I woke to find myself wrapped around a hard, warm, naked body with my head resting on a muscular chest and my plastered arm lying across it. I looked up into the chocolate brown eyes of Ranger and smiled. "What happened, babe?" he asked, motioning towards the arm across his chest.

"Joe," I replied. The arm holding me tightened around me and the blank look dropped down, but I knew him well enough to sense the anger behind it. I wanted to live in a state of denial for a while longer and make the most of being wrapped in Rangers arms, so I started placing open mouth kisses on his chest and up towards his neck. The arm around me gradually loosened and I found myself rolled over on my back with Ranger leaning over the top of me. "We will be talking about the arm later Babe, but I think it can wait awhile. We have other things to 'discuss'." While he was talking his hand had found the bottom edge of the shirt I was wearing and had worked its way under it. His fingers were slowly moving up and down my hip, gradually moving higher with each up stroke. I felt myself melting into the touch, oblivious of everything else. Gently, he reached just under my breast and then moved up the side. I moaned while making my chest thrust up to try and make contact with him. He smiled and leaned in to kiss me, his tongue requesting entrance to my mouth. I freely opened and felt the heat flow through my body and concentrate in my core.

Unfortunately, the ringing of Rangers phone broke the moment. He turned from me to look at the ID on the screen and moved into the lounge to answer it. My eyes followed the well sculpted body. With Ranger now out of the room, my brain could function properly and it immediately connected with my bladder. I sat up to go to the bathroom and the movement and subsequent pain in my arm caused me to draw in a breath. I carefully finished getting out of bed and headed into the bathroom. I finished cleaning up and did what I could with my hair. Unfortunately, my arm was hurting too much to brush it or tie it back properly so I decided that was the first challenge for the day after I had taken the tablets Bobby had left me and eaten some breakfast.

Ranger had obviously phoned Ella as since breakfast was waiting for me. I lifted the lid to find blueberry pancakes covered in syrup and a large spoonful of cream on top. "That stuff will kill you Babe", Ranger commented.

"Better to die happy than be old and grumpy living on twigs and leaves," I retorted. While I ate breakfast, Ranger headed for the bedroom, reappearing ten minutes later dressed in a Rangeman uniform. "We need to talk Steph, but I have to sort some things out first downstairs. I'll meet you up here at 1300 hours for lunch," he announced as he quickly bent down to kiss my forehead and headed out of the apartment.

I finished my coffee and allowed the tablets I had taken to work their magic. I thought about what had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I was sure we would be discussing Joe when Ranger came back upstairs. Thinking about Ranger reminded me of something important. I was sure Ranger hadn't been due back from wherever he had been for another month. I wondered what was he doing back, and more to the point, what had we being doing this morning. OK, I knew _what_ we had been doing and _where_ it would have probably gone if we hadn't been interrupted, but he had already told me just before he left on his last mission that we couldn't get involved and I needed more than he could give me. He reiterated his stance that he wasn't cut out to be relationship material. I was sure that was also on his list for the 'lunch talk.'

As the day was already going downhill, I decided to check my phone. If I was lucky the calls and messages from last night would have disappeared. As it was, I wasn't very lucky and my mailbox was full. I guess I should have known better.

"Stephanie Plum this is your mother what do you think. ..",

Delete,

"Cupcake..."

Delete,

"Stephanie, how could you do this to Joseph ..."

Delete.

Fifty seven deleted messages later, I had cleared all the calls from Joe and my mother and I knew I wouldn't be getting pineapple upside down cake for a while. I wondered if my mother had started ironing the curtains yet and how many trips she had made to her secret stash in the cupboard.

My musings were interrupted by a knock on the door. As it opened, Bobby peered around it. "Just checking that you were suitably dressed before we came in," he explained.

"And if I wasn't?" I asked.

"All the more reason to come in," chuckled a voice behind him. I should have known that Lester would be there as well. It was rare to find one of them without the other. They were soul mates. Over the years they had seen a lot of terrible things and been through a lot together, so they understood each other like no one else could. They would go out on their nights off and party hard, usually picking up women for the night, but neither was looking for a long term relationship. They were also couple of my closest friends and they treated me like a little sister- always ready to help when I got into trouble. I had lost count of the number of times Bobby had patched me up, and the number of times he and Lester had been there for me when something had gone awry with one of my skips.

Bobby checked my arm and covered it so I could take a shower. Since the tablets had taken effect I could move it enough to wash myself and shampoo my hair. Lester had volunteered to help me with my shower, but I had laughed and told him I could manage. I wrapped my hair in a towel and found another one to dry off with. I wasn't going to be chasing skips like this, so I put on my Rangeman uniform. At least I could do some searches and make my self useful. My hair was a mess but I knew Lester would help me with that. Who knew that a badass mercenary could be so good at doing hair? Previously when I asked him about it, he reckoned it was because he had so many sisters. I reckoned it was the practice he got doing Bobby's cornrows.

Lester dried and brushed my hair while they told me about the phone calls that the control room had received from Joe and my mother looking for me. In the end, Tank had taken the calls and told them that they hadn't seen me this morning. This was technically true because although they knew that I was in the building, they hadn't actually seen me. I also knew that my mother and Joe wouldn't stop calling until I spoke to them so I sat between Lester and Bobby on the couch for moral support and called my mother. My mother usually went shopping first thing in the morning. It allowed her to get the best produce and a good start on the latest gossip. I hoped that she wouldn't be back yet. Thankfully, I was in luck when my grandmother answered the phone. She had heard what had happened and offered to shoot Joe for me. After hopefully persuading her that it was not a good idea to shoot a police officer, Joe's number. My luck was holding out as his phone went straight to voicemail. I reminded him that we were not in a relationship, and hadn't been for a couple of months, and told him to leave me alone. At least now if anyone asked I could say I had called them.

I looked at Lester and Bobby who were both grinning at me. "What?" I questioned. I always got worried when they had that look.

"We could always help your grandmother hide the evidence, Beautiful," Lester said with a smile.

"Just remember what she could do to you," I replied with a smirk as I watched them both shudder at the thought. It was amazing that these men who had seen some of the worst that the world had to offer were scared of my grandmother.

Zero and Woody were on the monitors when I went into the control room. Lester and Bobby had headed off to do surveillance on a warehouse that a skip had been rumored to visit. They were due to take over for Vince and Binkie in half an hour. After comparing injuries with Zero, I headed to Tanks' office to let him know I was there and to see if there was anything he wanted me to do before I headed to my desk to start running searches. My inbox was full of requests and most of them had Rodriguez's name on them. I still hadn't met the man, but I wanted to, simply to find out why he couldn't do some of his own searches like the others did.

The first two were relatively easy; George Allen and Daniel Conroy. They had decided to hold up a local deli and when the police had arrived they had decided to try shooting their way out. I guess they were playing in their own version of Jesse James does Trenton I suppose. How they had made bail initially was questionable, but someone had put up their bond and while they were out waiting for their trial, they had decided to have another go at holding up a liquor store and had shot the store owner. Luckily he had survived but they were now FTA and it had fallen to Rangeman to find them and bring them in. I had gone to school with George and Daniel and knew that Daniels' parents had a cabin in the Poconos. He always went on about it and how good the skiing was. I reckoned there was a fairly good chance they were hiding there so I printed what I had and went to talk to Tank.

I knocked on his door and a gruff voice called "Come in to my lair Little Girl." I chuckled and went in to find Tank hidden behind a stack of papers. When I had first met Tank, I had honestly been scared of him. It had been during a 'redecorating' job and he had just thrown a man out of a third floor window. As I got to know him, I found that although he showed a tough persona to the world he could be a kind and gentle man. He, along with Bobby and Lester, were some of my closest friends. I have to admit to myself that in my dreams sometimes the three of them became so much more. Well, what girl wouldn't have fantasies about such sexy looking guys?

I gave him the paperwork that I had printed out and told him about the cabin, suggesting with a smirk that maybe Lester and Bobby should drive up there and do some surveillance. Being a Friday I knew that they would have plans to go out clubbing and sitting in the cold in middle of nowhere wouldn't be their idea of fun.

"Babe, you are an evil woman." I turned to see the luscious body that the rich timbered voice came from and reached up to rub my neck from the tingle I felt. My eyes were reward by seeing Ranger standing in the doorway with the corner of his mouth lifted, which I knew was his definition of a smile. Tank filled him in on what I had discovered while I stared out of the window at the snow that was starting to fall. A part of me had always liked the snow; for a while it made everything look clean and fresh. But the rest of me hated the thought of the cold. Knowing my luck, before long I would find myself with wet feet and skin soaked to the bone, courtesy of some skip. It also reminded me that Christmas was not far away and with that thought came the nightmare known as Christmas dinner with my family. I could see it now, my dad sitting in his chair trying to watch the TV with the sound turned right up, my mother with the help of the 'special' bottle in the cupboard making dinner with Valerie, Angie sitting quietly like the good Burg child while Mary Alice galloped around, pretending she was a horse. This would be topped off with Albert trying to look after Lisa, making sure that she didn't crawl where she shouldn't. Then there was my grandmother. We had been shopping for Christmas presents at the mall when she had seen an elf outfit in Victoria's Secrets and her eyes had lit up. I had dragged her away before she could buy it, but the thought of her turning up at Christmas dinner dressed like that was almost enough to give me nightmares. Truthfully, the perverse side of me would have loved to see the expression on everyone else's faces.

I was brought from my thoughts by a pair of hands resting on my shoulders and I stepped back into Ranger's body. His arms came around me and I could feel his breath in my hair; it was a feeling that I wanted to hold on to.

"Babe, we think sending Bobby and Lester up there is a great idea but we think they might need some company, so Tank and the two of us are going to join them."

As soon as my brain engaged and I realized what Ranger had said my mouth opened and everything rushed out. "What? I can't go! What about my arm? Where are we going to stay? Isn't it going to be cold? What am I going to do with Rex?"

I could hear Tank behind me and felt the vibration through my body and realized that they were both laughing at me. I turned and stepped away from Ranger and gave them both my Burg glare which just caused them to laugh more. I channeled my inner mature persona and resorted to sticking my tongue out at them.

"Calm down Babe. Rex can move into the break room here where Ella can look after him. Bobby will be there to look after your arm, and Rangeman owns a cabin nearby that we can stay in which has a big fireplace." "And," he added with a raised eyebrow to Tank, "I'm sure we can find other ways of keeping you warm if all else fails. "

A knock on the door signaled the arrival of Bobby and Lester. They had not only managed to pick up the skip they were waiting for but also an old favorite of mine, Billy Johnson, who I had been planning to go after this morning. He had a thing for flames and had been caught several times because he was always stupid enough to hang around and watch the results of his handiwork. I couldn't understand how he managed to get bail each time. Maybe they were worried he'd burn down the jail. Previously when I had tried to apprehend him he had been responsible for one of my POS cars going to the car graveyard in a ball of flame. This time he had been trying to set fire to wooden crates outside the warehouse when the skip Rangeman was after had shown up. The two men had been so busy fighting that they hadn't noticed they had company until they both found themselves on the floor and handcuffed.

Ranger updated Bobby and Lester with what I had found and the plan for the five of us to go up to the cabin and investigate. Bobby and Lester grinned and high fived each other then Lester turned and waggled his eyebrows at me. "We are going to have so much fun Beautiful!" Ranger and Tank did their silent communication thing and Tank hit Lester up the side of the head. "Santos," Ranger growled, "I expect some work out of you. This is not a holiday."

"Sure Boss, but all work and no play makes Lester go crazy." I was sure he was already crazy, but a snort behind me, which sounded like it came from Tank, made me think others agreed with me. Lester chimed in, "I'm hurt, Beautiful," which made me realize that I had said it out loud.

"A good kind of crazy, of course." I added as I gave him a smile and a quick hug.


	2. Chapter 2

Like everything Ranger did the trip to the cabin was planned with military precision, you would think that we were about to invade a small country from the way they were talking. The decision had been made that we would head out in the morning so they could do some surveillance before it got dark. Ella was going shopping for the food and other items that we needed but I knew that the food list Ranger had given her would be lacking in sugar and fat so I slipped her my own list as she left. Ella looked at it, smiled and promised me that she would do me my own ration pack.

I realized that although I had packed for a stay at Haywood I didn't really have any clothes suitable for staying in a cabin, so I stuck my head around Ranger's office door to find out who my ride for the day was. Cal and Hector were going to be in charge while we were gone and were in the office with Ranger going over the work schedule and roster. "Ranger, I need to go back to my apartment, to pick up some more clothes, who's my driver today"? Cal smiled, "Your chauffeur awaits my lady, if you don't mind waiting a few minutes while we finish up here". "That's not a problem Cal; I'll wait for you in the break room."

I entered the break room and noticed Lester and Bobby were watching a war movie, I had no idea what it was and I didn't think it mattered to them either. They were both too busy dissecting each scene,

"Don't know how that guy made it through boot camp, look how he's holding his rifle"

"He doesn't look like any sniper I know",

"This lot wouldn't last a week in a real war zone",

"I thought they were supposed to be sneaking in, a herd of elephants would make less noise."

I laughed and they both turned and looked at me, "This is a movie not a documentary, guys."

"Beautiful you have to understand these movies make us look like idiots, not the highly trained, highly skilled soldiers we are."

A voice came from behind me, "I suggest you leave these two to argue with the TV, they're like a couple of old women not happy unless they are complaining about something. "

I turned to see Cal, his hair flopping down covering most of his tattoo. "You need a haircut, that fringe is ruining your bad ass image."

"It'll take more than that to ruin my image" he laughed, "but I have a shaver, if you want to volunteer later, gorgeous."

"I grinned," I might just take you up on that but for now I need to g get some things from my apartment."

Leaving Bobby and Lester arguing with the TV we headed down to the garage to the SUV that was our transport for the day and towards my apartment with Cal in his driving zone while I tried to work out how I was going to relieve the itch under my plaster. Why was it that if there was an itch it was always in a spot that was difficult to reach. I must have been really fidgeting because it was enough to get Cal's attention. We stopped at the lights and without saying a word he reached under the seat and pulled out a bit of wire with a hook on the end which he handed to me. It was obviously used for B&E but was just the right length to and size to slide down the inside of my plaster and scratch. For the last few minutes of the trip I ran it up and down the inside of the plaster and by the time we pulled in to park at my apartment I felt much better.

I hadn't been paying much attention but as Cal helped me out of the SUV I noticed that my father's cab was parked just down from us and he was getting out of it and heading in our direction. He didn't look happy and my first concern was that something had happened to someone in the family. At my father's request we headed up to my apartment, where we waited outside until Cal had cleared it. My father asked Cal to stay so I grabbed three bottles of water and we got comfortable.

"Pumpkin, as usual the rumour mill has been working overtime and has it that two of Rangers guys were responsible for your arm being broken, but from what I see with this guy here, it's wrong again."

I couldn't believe it, all those people who had seen what had happened and they still distorted it to suit their purpose. "Is there anyone in particular that seems to be spreading this story", I asked angrily, although I already had a pretty good idea.

"Morelli has been coming around talking to your mother while I've been out and getting her all riled up, he's saying they attacked both of you and you've been kidnapped by them. He doesn't dare stay around when I get home, not since the first time I heard them together. I've unplugged the phone as well to stop your mother spreading the rumours."

I stared at my father in shock, this was the man that sat in front of the TV and didn't say a word to anyone, but he had somehow scared Morelli and he had stood up for me against my mother. I didn't realise my mouth was hanging open until Cal put his finger under my chin "You don't want to be catching flies like that" he smirked.

"Dad, what did you say to Morelli?" I asked curiously and a bit concerned, I didn't like the thought of what Morelli could do to him. Cal obviously picked up on my concern and added "if you want someone to deal with him, we're willing to oblige in any way we can."

We were both taken back my father's chuckle, "I told him in graphic detail what I would do to him if I saw him in my house again and son, thank you for the offer but I think I can handle Morelli, I wasn't called Spectre for nothing."

The name meant nothing to me but from the shocked look on Cal's face it obviously did to him. I looked between the two of them and asked the question "Who's Spectre?"

"Spectre's a legend in the Rangers, everybody aspires to be as good as him, and his mission achievements during the Vietnam War were incredible." He turned to my father, "It's an honour to know you Sir."

He turned back to me "Now we know where you got some of your talents from gorgeous, just wait til the others hear about this."

I left Cal asking my father about the stories that he had heard and if some of the stuff was really true while I went to get the extra clothes I needed for the trip to the cabin. It was a bit of a struggle with one arm but I eventually came out with my packed bag and put it by the door. They were still talking and I laughed to myself at the site of Cal looking as though he was a kid being told all his dreams had come true.

It amazed me that two men who would normally not say more than a dozen words in a day were having a conversation in my lounge and that my father was a hero to the men at RangeMan that I saw as my friends. My father noticed that I was standing watching them and stood, telling Cal that he should get me back before a search party was sent out for us. I told him of the plan to go to the cabin and who I was going with.

"Ranger's a good soldier, I trust him and his men to keep you safe Pumpkin and don't worry about your mother and Morelli, your grandmother and I will sort that problem out."

I laughed at the thought of my grandmother sorting Morelli out, he'd be scarred for life. Cal had grabbed my bag and after checking the apartment was secure we all made our way down to the parking lot. When we got to the truck, my father shook Cal's hand and gave me a hug telling me to look after myself and not to worry. We watched him drive off in his cab as Cal put my bag in the back and lifted me in. He helped me fasten my belt that I was struggling to do with one arm and then he hopped in the other side.

As we neared RangeMan I noticed that Joe was following us in his own truck and I was glad when we pulled into the underground car park. Joe had pulled to a stop on the other side of the street and was watching the building. He was making no attempt to hide the fact he was there and I knew that there was nothing that the guys could do as he was in a public place.

When we got to the fifth floor it was obvious that the guys on the monitors had seen him as well and reported his presence to Tank. He and Ranger turned to look at us, Ranger raising his eyebrow in question to Cal.

"We only picked him up a couple of streets back, he couldn't really do anything with all the other traffic and I didn't want to give him an excuse to try something stupid. "

"Hope he's wrapped up warm, its going to get cold tonight, maybe we should give him a call and ask if he wants a blanket." I turned to find Lester with a smirk on his face holding a pink baby blanket.

"Is there something you would like to tell us Santos?"

"He's obviously trying to get in touch with his feminine side" sniggered Binkie who was watching the monitors.

"Hey it was for my sister, my mother said she was having a girl, turns out she was wrong and my sister had a boy. Now I'm waiting for someone else to have kids."

I realised he was looking at me waggling his eyebrows and with a glint in his eyes.

"Well don't look at me Santos; I have enough trouble looking after a hamster."

"Yeah but it could be fun practising beautiful, want to..Hey what did you do that for man?"

I smirked at the look on his face; Tank had just given him a clip round the back of the head.

"Get your mind out of the sewer, Santos, unless you want to meet me on the mats at 0500."

Cal chose that moment to change the subject which was probably a good thing; I could see a bruised and damaged Lester in the near future from the look on Tank's face.

"Guys, you are not going to believe who I met today. This guy is a legend." The tone in his voice made everyone look at him.

"Binkie, Hal monitors, Cal just spit it out" Ranger barked obviously tired of all the banter. Binkie and Hal spun back to the monitors while the others continued to look at Cal. I just grinned knowing how shocked they were going to be.

"I met Spectre, talked to him."

There was silence across the control room. I had heard it quiet in here before but this was different, you could have heard a pin drop, even Ranger looked a bit stunned. I couldn't help it, I just had to laugh. Everyone turned to look at me like I was crazy.

Cal looked at me and grinned, "Do you think I should tell them about it now or later?"

Looking around the room I saw the looks they were giving Cal and me, "You better tell them now before one of them bursts a blood vessel."

Cal proceeded to tell them that he had met Spectre when we had gone to my apartment and about the conversation they had but he refrained from telling them who he was. I could tell that Lester was getting impatient to know the name of the man and I had a feeling the others were as well, they were just better at hiding it. He dropped a hint that Spectre was related to someone in the room and someone they had all met, a comment that had them looking at each other and then to a man they all turned and looked at me. I just smiled and shrugged my shoulders in a what can I say attitude.

"Babe would you like to enlighten us?"

I told them the rest of the story about my father meeting us in the parking lot and the conversation about Morelli and my mother, by the time I finished there were some very conflicted Rangemen. They were pissed off about my mother and Morelli but this was tempered with surprise by the revelation that my father was the man they held in such high esteem.

It was starting to get dark out even though it was only mid afternoon and the falling snow was getting heavier, being Trenton it wasn't enough to give the winter wonderland look, but just to make it dangerous to drive in. I was glad I wasn't going out in it. I looked over Binkie's monitor and could see Joe's truck still parked across the street, it seemed he was planning on staying awhile and I couldn't help but think that he and 'the boys' were going to get a bit cold. Obviously the slightly evil grin that I had on my face had got Ranger's attention,

"I see smoke Babe, want to share?"

"Frozen nuts" I replied.

Ranger looked at me strangely, then Lester started laughing, he had obviously seen where I was looking and realised what I was thinking. Moments later the side of Tank's mouth lifted, the equivalent of a laugh for anyone else as he made sense of the comment. Ranger gave us all a look that said he thought there was something seriously wrong with all of us. He headed towards his office muttering something about it being hard to get good workers and some people should join the circus. This caused even more laughter from Lester, "I think you've rubbed off on him, beautiful, he's started voicing his thoughts out loud."

Hector and Woody had just come in from an installation and looked strangely at Lester who was still laughing, then Woody looked with a raised eyebrow at Tank in the hope of an explanation. Tank filled them in on everything that had been said and even though it was in Spanish I could comprehend by the body language what he was telling them. I could tell when they got to the explanation of what was making Lester laugh by the look on Hector's face. He turned to me with a huge smile on his face and asked, "Is a new flavour Ben and Jerry's, Angelita?"

This was enough to start Lester laughing again and even Tank was having problems trying not to laugh.

"I don't think so Hector, it would leave a funny taste in the mouth." I said with a smirk.

"Beautiful, you never disappoint."

At that moment my stomach growled and I realised with everything that had happened I had missed out on lunch with Ranger. I was in two minds whether to remind him we were going to have lunch together, if I went to the break room I could avoid 'the talk' but if I ate with Ranger I would get dessert. My stomach growled again and the thought of a sugar fix out weighed the concern about the talk with Ranger. When I knocked on Ranger's door I was in luck, a problem had come up at the Boston office and he had a teleconference pending that would take an hour or so, but he told me to go up to seven and Ella would bring me a late lunch.

Ella arrived just after I did with a plate of pasta alfredo and a slice of chocolate cake with a large dollop of thick cream. She smiled and gave me a hug, told me to enjoy the meal and leave the empty plates in the kitchen.

I moaned my way through the incredible lunch, not having to worry about the noise affecting anyone else and then put my dishes in the kitchen. I took a couple of painkillers to dull the pain in my arm, loaded Ghostbusters and made myself comfortable laid on the sofa.

I woke to find myself covered in a blanket and the TV turned off, Ranger was relaxed in the chair to the side of me reading some papers. He stopped reading when he realised I was awake and smiled at me.

"How are you feeling Babe?"

I yawned and stretched, "Feeling good Batman, what time is it?"

"A little after 6, Ella is going to bring up dinner in about half an hour if you're hungry."

"I can always eat what Ella makes, no matter what the time", I said with a grin, which rapidly disappeared when I remembered Joe following us to Rangeman.

"He's not there any more, a 'concerned citizen' called the police to report a man acting in a suspicious way near the seven eleven, and they sent Big Dog and Eddie to investigate. I don't know what was said but Joe looked pissed when he drove off."

"How did you know, that's what I was thinking, stop reading my mind. You and your ESP" I grumbled halfheartedly.

"It's not ESP Babe it's written all over your face."

The seven eleven was half a block down and it was handy because it stocked a small supply of tasty cakes which meant I could get my fix if I couldn't get Ella food and was desperate. It had been held up a couple of months ago by some idiot looking for money and cigarettes. Luckily for the store owner, there were a couple of Rangemen coming up the street who had seen what was happening and none too gently apprehended the guy.

Ranger's face turned serious again," Babe, there's been a slight change of plan, I have to go to Boston after dinner to help in the capture of a skip, he's worth a lot of money to us so I need to be there. I'm flying but if I don't get back in time Tank is going to drive the two of you up to the cabin and I will drive up there as soon as I can. Lester and Bobby are going to follow behind you and take a detour to check on the FTAs, so they should be at the cabin not long after you. "

Once again I realised that I had escaped the talk but I knew that Ranger wouldn't put it off for ever.

-Author note: Thank you to all the people who have read and reviewed my story to date and my apologies for the time it has taken to put this chapter up. This story has 3 possible directions ending in one of the following relationships : Ranger and Steph, Steph and several Merry Men or Steph and a single Merry Man. Please let me know which you would like to see

-Amanda


	3. Chapter 3

_The characters in this story are the property of Janet Evanovich, I have just taken them out to play. _

_Thank you to all those that reviewed this story, my apologies if you didn't get a reply, I have been having problems with my account but I appreciate every one._

_Thank you also to my Beta Fair Tax Girl for all her hard work. _

Ranger and I had eaten dinner in silence; I could tell his mind was already on the job to be done in Boston and I was too busy enjoying my food to worry about talking. He had finished getting ready while I was eating dessert and by the time I had finished moaning my way through the rich chocolate mousse with whipped cream he was ready to leave.

He pushed me against the wall pressing his body hard against mine and whispered, "Babe, one of these days I'll show you something else that I can do with mousse that will cause you to make that sound." A gasp at the thought had been enough for him to crush his lips against mine and his tongue to explore my mouth, the hardness pressing into my stomach a sign of the physical attraction our bodies had for one another. I could feel my panties getting wet, a common event when Ranger was around, and I was beginning to need air when he pushed himself away from me. "I have to go Babe, sleep well, if you need anything call Ella or the guys, I'll see you tomorrow", and with a half smile he was out of the door and it was closed behind him.

I pushed myself away from the wall looking back to make sure that there wasn't an outline of my body pressed into it and collapsed on the lounge. After our one night together I could remember vividly what his hands and mouth, hell the whole of his body, could do to mine. I also remembered the following morning when he had told me to go back to Morelli, a reminder of his statement that he didn't do relationships. Deciding that denial was a good thing, I turned on the TV and channel surfed until I found a movie that looked semi interesting. I realized after a couple of minutes that it was Pride and Prejudice a movie that I felt had some parallels to my life and on further reflection that I could be thankful that I didn't have four sisters.

I checked the time as the movie ended and realized that it was getting late. Ranger would be in Boston by now and the guys would be ready to move out early tomorrow. My thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing; it was Bobby calling to remind me that I needed to take my tablets and a voice in the background, Lester's by the sound of it, asking if I needed to be tucked into bed. This comment was followed by another voice, "Santos" and what sounded like a hand hitting the back of a head; that must have been Tank. Having assured them all that I had taken my tablets, that I was alright and didn't need any help, I did what I needed in the bathroom, changed into one of Rangers shirts and slid into bed quickly drifting off to sleep.

Ranger's bed is better than any other bed that I have been in and a place I could happily stay for hours. The sheets are incredibly soft and the feel combined with the smell of his Bvlgari on the pillow that I was holding made the rude awakening I had just received even worse. I opened one eye and saw part of a well built black clad body; this wasn't much help as I was in Rangeman and it could be any of the guys.

"Morning beautiful, rise and shine" and a sloppy kiss on the forehead told me it was Les who had disturbed my sleep. I gave him an Italian hand gesture and tried to pull the covers over my head, a futile exercise as it turned out because Bobby was sat on them. At that moment I heard movement outside the bedroom door and decided to change tack.

"Morning boys, want to join me, I'm sure we can all get comfortable in here?" I asked with an evil grin, as I fluttered my eyelashes at them.

"Thought you would never ask beautiful, glad you finally made the right choice, although I'm not sure we need Bobby with us."

Tanks voice boomed from the lounge, "Santos, do you have a death wish, out here now; Brown, you are supposed to be making sure Steph is fit and ready to travel nothing more ."

Lester grinned at me and left before Tank decided to come and get him leaving Bobby sitting on the bed next to me.

"You really shouldn't encourage him like that, he's bad enough as it is" chuckled Bobby, "now let's look at your arm, how's it feeling?"

I sat up a bit and moved it around, "It's not so bad now, it doesn't feel as swollen or painful but it still hurts if I move it too much, I reckon the worst part is the itch and the need to scratch."

"Unfortunately you are going to be stuck with this for a little while longer, once we get back from the cabin we can look at changing it to a removable splint. I know it itches but you shouldn't stick anything down there it can cause more problems. If it's really bad we can try an antihistamine to reduce the itch. "

Bobby gave me a smile and a hug, "I know it's early but we need to get moving, are you ready to get moving?"

"I don't want to" I whined as I pouted at him. Bobby just shook his head at me and said he would see me in the kitchen and that if I didn't hurry up there would be nothing left. He laughed again at the horrified look on my face with that thought and left me to get up.

I got up, did what I needed in the bathroom and pulled on a pair of sweats deciding that food was the most important thing and my shower could wait. Previous experience told me that Lester had no qualms about eating other people's food even with the threat of a slow and painful death. When I got to the kitchen I realized I hadn't factored in the 'Ella factor'. She was standing guard next to two covered plates on a trolley and once I sat down she carried the plates to the counter and placed them in front of me. I lifted the first lid to see a large stack of pancakes with syrup, cream and fruit, then the second that had a mound of scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns under it. I put the first lid back to keep the pancakes warm and started on the second plate. A light mocha colored hand moving towards the bacon discovered how fast my reflexes could be as a fork rapped across the knuckles, an act that was followed up by Ella flicking him round the back of the head with a towel.

Bobby and Tank smiled as Lester alternated between rubbing the back of his head and his hand, while grumbling about being picked on. I was surprised that he didn't have a flat spot on the back of his head with the number of times that he had been hit recently. Unfortunately he seemed to have a thick skull and short memory because he was always doing something to encourage the head hitting. I finished the first plate which Ella removed and started on the second making sure that I moaned all the way through eating. I could see Ella smiling, she could tell I was doing it deliberately to wind up the guys and it was working, the pained looks on their faces was priceless. Once I had finished I stood, grinned at them and announced I was going to take a shower. Lester looked like he was going to say something but the look that Tank gave him was obviously enough to make him stay quiet.

Forty five minutes later I was ready to leave; while I had been having my shower Ella had packed my bags and made sure that the food parcel she had made up for me was with them. I could see Lester eyeing it up.

"Want a hand carrying your stuff?" he asked with a grin.

"Sure" I replied quickly picking up the food parcel and sticking my tongue out at him; he picked up my other bags as he stuck his tongue out at me in return.

"Some days I feel like I'm in charge of a playgroup, not a security business" muttered Tank as he made sure everyone was out of the door and in the lift. We made our way down to the garage and split up, Lester and Bobby in one truck and Tank and me in the other. I made sure I held on to my food parcel until Lester was in their truck and then placed it on the floor behind the front seat. Tank just looked at me and shook his head. We were about to pull out when Tank got a call, from the brevity of the conversation it was Ranger on the other end. When the call finished he told me that Ranger was going to be back in Trenton in an hour and that Cal would meet him at the airport and they would drive up and meet us at the cabin. I nodded and put my IPod on knowing that Tank didn't talk at the best of times and with the roads like they were he would be paying attention to what was going on around him.

Normally the trip to the cabin would take about three hours but with the weather and the chance of accidents it could a lot longer. Sure enough an hour out of Trenton there was tail back due to a multi car accident, the emergency services had nearly got it cleared and the road reopened but traffic was still moving slowly. I watched them all working in the cold and it raised my respect for them even more, these were people who came out regardless of the time of day or the weather to help other people. It made me realize how many times these people had been out to rescue me from my disasters and how many of those calls could have been avoided if I had been less impetuous and more aware of my surroundings. I spent the rest of the trip trying to work out how I was going to achieve the new, better Stephanie Plum. I knew I could get help from Ranger and the Merry Men with the physical training but I wasn't sure that was the complete solution. I needed to find someone who could help me mentally and emotionally and would understand my view on things like carrying a gun and maybe help me overcome it. I also needed someone who wasn't afraid of hurting me, a problem I had with the guys at Rangeman who were always worried that they would hurt me and then have to face the wrath of Ranger. Last time I had practiced with Hal he had been so worried that he would hurt me that I had trouble getting close enough to him to even touch him and all the guys were worried about touching me inappropriately by accident in case Ranger called them to the mats. It was a pity really that the FTAs that I went after didn't have the same regard for my well being and personal space, it would make life a lot easier.

I suddenly realized we were parked in a garage and had obviously arrived at the cabin, I could hear Rangers voice in my head saying "Need to be more aware of your surroundings Babe."

"You going to sit there all day, little girl?" Tank asked.

I smiled sheepishly and got out, looking around as I did. The garage was huge with enough parking for 4 cars and space for the snow boards and other stuff the guys obviously used while they were here. I followed Tank through a door in the back corner that went into a mud room and that had another 2 doors, one leading to outside and another that obviously led to the inside of the cabin. I wished I had been paying more attention as we drove up because this cabin was obviously bigger and better equipped than I had imagined. Tank disabled the alarm and opened the door letting me precede him into the cabin. I looked around me in shock, this was not a cabin. A cabin in my mind was a small wooden building that if you were really lucky had an indoor bathroom and some basic amenities, like a semi decent bed. This was bigger and more luxurious than some of the houses they showed in magazines about the rich and famous.

"you're going to catch flies if you're not careful" laughed Tank.

"Tank, this is ahh.." I was so stunned that I couldn't work what I wanted to say.

"Go on have a look around, your room is the last one on the right up the stairs, I'm going to put the stuff away", he said as he turned through an entrance to one side that looked as though it might be the kitchen.

I stood in the middle of the room and turned in a circle trying to take everything in. I saw the stairs and noticed that they went down as well as up and decided that would be a good place to start. I left my bags by the stairs and headed down to what turned out to a fully equipped gym on one side of the stairs and a games room on the other. The games room was amazing; it had light colored stone walls with cherry wood floors covered in throw rugs and plenty of couches, there was also a small kitchenette in the corner so they wouldn't have to go upstairs for food and drink. To one side there were four recliners in a semi-circle around a massive TV hanging on the wall. I saw dozens of DVDs and several game consoles with stacks of games to go with them, there was a full size pool/snooker table on the other side. I had a look at the DVD's and games and discovered most of them were action or war movies which didn't surprise me in the least. The guys could stay down here for weeks without getting bored.

Behind the stairs I discovered two doors. The first led to a small bathroom and the second to a laundry with all the latest top of the range equipment, I sure my mother would think she was in heaven with a laundry like this, I just wondered where the instruction manuals were. Between the doors was another small door in the wall that turned out to be a dumb waiter, I assumed this was how they got things down here and I was going to have to find out where it went.

Heading back up the stairs, I noticed that the stone walls and cherry wood floors continued to the main floor. The stairs were in the corner of a large room with floor to wall windows to the front and side of the room. The views were amazing and I imagined they would be even better when the snow was cleared. Again there was the massive TV in one corner and I wondered what it was with men and their need for such big TVs. The lounge was covered in cream leather and I knew it would be soft to the touch and very good quality, Ranger didn't believe in second best. The rest of the furniture was a darker wood, I wasn't sure what, but it fitted perfectly with everything else in the room. This room looked like it had been designed specifically to be on the front cover of a magazine and unlike the room downstairs I just couldn't imagine the guys sitting here. A large dining room with table and chairs made of the same wood as the other furniture could be seen through an archway, a cream runner down the middle of the table and cream cushions on the chairs acting as the counterbalance to the dark wood.

I turned back to where we had come in and noticed 2 more doors along the wall behind the stairs, the first contained a bathroom done in the same cream and burnt red colors as the bathroom downstairs and the second was obviously Rangers office. This room had a mahogany desk with a big leather chair one end, the walls had floor to wall bookshelves with an open fire place and two more big leather chairs at the other. I could imagine sitting in here in front of a roaring fire with a good book while the weather did its worst outside.

A growl from my stomach reminded me it was lunch time and I needed to go and find the kitchen. I headed towards the door that I had seen Tank go through and found myself in a kitchen that any good woman of the Burg would salivate over. There was a stove that took up a good part of one wall, it was big enough to cater for an army and with the amount the guys could eat it probably needed to be. The frig and freezer combo was also massive, If it was full they could probably stay here for a couple of months before they had to restock. My stomach growled again as the aroma from a big pot of what was obviously Ella's soup overwhelmed my senses; I could also smell fresh warm bread and decided that exploring the rest of the cabin could definitely wait.

Tank dished up two big bowls that he carried to a big table in the middle of the kitchen; it was the sort of table you would expect to find in a farmhouse kitchen and looked worn as though people had been preparing and eating at it for centuries. Unlike the dining table I had just seen I could imagine the guys eating around this table in the evening after they had spent the day getting in touch with their wild side. Tank returned with the warm rolls and we got stuck in. I tried not to moan too much as I worked my way through the soup and bread but I could tell I was still making Tank uncomfortable. We had just finished when we heard Lester and Bobby came in and they were obviously having a friendly disagreement about something but it was difficult to know what.

It turned out that they had found George Allen and Daniel Conroy at the cabin and the pair of them had been so drunk they were having trouble standing up but even scarier was the fact that they had been carrying rifles. Bobby and Lester were arguing over whether George and Daniel were going to shoot each other or if they were going to fall over in the snow and break something. Lester reckoned if they shot each other it would raise the average IQ of Trenton by several points, Bobby reckoned that the pair of them couldn't hit the side of a barn never mind each other but falling down took no effort. Tank just looked at them, shook his head, told them to sit down and dished them a bowl of soup each. Not one to miss out on an opportunity I took my bowl to Tank and held it out,

"Please Sir can I have some more?" I asked remembering the line from Oliver. Tank looked at me strangely but refilled my bowl. I think I was about to mentally break him. Lester just laughed,

"Well you've already broken him physically, so it's all you've got left to do."

"Oh crap I said that out loud" I groaned.

"Never mind beautiful, we love the workings of your mind they're unique."

I just stuck my tongue out and started to eat, making sure I moaned all the way through. By this point Tank had gone elsewhere, I had the feeling that the three of us were more than he could deal with. Tank was a man who believed in an organised and disciplined life, He could withstand torture and hardship that would break a lesser man but Lester and I together could almost bring him to his knees. I wasn't sure whether to be proud of this fact or afraid; if we broke Tank then we would have to deal with Ranger and I had the feeling that the deal would involve a crate and a one way trip to somewhere unpleasant.

The second bowl had left me feeling comfortably filled and the guys looking pained. I just grinned at them and went to wash my dishes. I left Lester and Bobby in the kitchen and went to finish my exploration of the cabin.

The only place I had left to investigate was upstairs and again the cream stone and cherry wood floors were carried through to the bedrooms. I found my room and was stunned by the big four poster bed covered with a beautiful comforter in shades of cream and brown; I sneaked a peak under it and found the same thousand count sheets that Ranger had at Rangeman. All I had to do now was work out how I was going to sneak it back to my apartment. Come to think of it, I think this bed was probably bigger than my entire bedroom so that wasn't going to work. I would have to come up with plan B. There were a set of double doors on one side of the room behind which was a walk in closet that would hold my clothes and shoes at least four times over. OK we were now going for plan C, fitting the bed and closet in my apartment. Maybe if I knocked down all the walls they would fit after all I didn't need a kitchen as I didn't cook and I am sure that there was nothing wrong with sitting on the bed to watch TV, so who needed a sitting room. But when I opened the last door in the room I opted for plan D. The bathroom was the same cream and burnt red as the other bathrooms, it had a large shower with a seat and six pulsing showerheads in one corner that I was sure I could make use of, a double sink and in the corner a closed in area for the toilet. But it was what was in the other corner that made my mind up, a large free standing bath with claw feet in front of a window with incredible views. I knew that there would be no problems with privacy otherwise Ranger wouldn't have laid the room out like this and I could imagine lying there in the evening watching the stars. It was definitely going to be plan D, I would move in here permanently. There was a spot in the corner for Rex where he would be comfortable and I was sure I could fill the closet.

I had another look in the closet and realised that there were some clothes and shoes already in there and that they still had tags on; I wondered who they belonged to, probably one of Ranger's sisters'. I was sad to think that I wasn't the only person to have ever stayed in this room and wished the clothes were mine. I was holding a beautiful soft cashmere sweater to m y cheek, imagining what it would be like to wear when I heard a voice behind me.


	4. Chapter 4

_The characters in this story are the property of Janet Evanovich, I have just taken them out to play. Monopoly is registered to Hasbro/ Parker Brothers/ Waddingtons. _

_Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. I love to hear your thoughts._

* * *

"I see you found the clothes I bought for you, I hope you like them."

I jumped at the unexpected sound then turned with a grin to see Ranger standing there, he was dressed in a dark green jumper and jeans that fitted him to a tee finished off with a pair of black leather loafers and he looked incredible. I found corporate Ranger and dark mysterious street Ranger, sexy but this was something else entirely, I wasn't sure that I wasn't drooling and discreetly tried to check.

"Ranger this place is incredible; you said we were coming to a cabin not a country house; why are there clothes here for me, how long have you had this place; can I stay here and never go home?"

"Babe!"

I realised that I was developing a case of verbal diarrhoea and stopped. I looked closely at Ranger and could see the tiredness in his eyes, and realised how selfish I was being. While I had been curled up in his bed sleeping like a log, he had been working and probably hadn't had a good night's sleep since before his last mission.

"Sorry Ranger, but this place is amazing" I said and smiled sheepishly at him.

Ranger pulled me into his arms and held me tight as he nuzzled his face in my hair, while I rested my face against his jumper that was as soft as the one I had just been holding. I could stay like this for hours feeling the hardness of his body, the softness of his jumper and the smell of his Bvlargi.

All too soon Ranger stepped away and gave me a small smile, "Come on Babe, there are four men downstairs waiting to plan bringing in your FTAs.

It turned out that they had given up waiting and were downstairs in the games room playing a game on the TV that seemed to have no purpose to me but to shoot as many things as possible. Boys and their toys, and my boys at that I thought with a smile. I gave a Cal a finger wave; I had forgotten he had driven up with Ranger and waited for them to finish the level they were on.

Due to the fact it was half way through the afternoon the decision was made to pick up George and Daniel in the morning. According to Lester the two of them hadn't shown any sign of going anywhere, and the trip back to Trenton would be less demanding during the day. Hopefully by that point they would have also sobered up a bit or passed out, either way it would make it simpler. With that decided, the guys got back to their game leaving Ranger and me to our own devices.

"Come on Babe, let's go and explore the rest of the house."

I told him that I had already seen it all and he just smiled.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well, I've seen the rooms down here and on the main floor; I didn't check out the other bedrooms because I reckoned they were the guys' private space, so yeah I'm pretty sure I've seen everything. "

"I think you missed something on the main floor, so you might want to look again."

I looked at him quizzically; he just raised an eyebrow at me and smiled. Well if there was something else then I was determined to find it and why was he being so mysterious? I ran up the stairs and looked around. There was the main room, with the dining room off it. I knew that there was another door in the dining room that led to the kitchen and I could see the doors to the office, bathroom and mudroom. There was also the big solid carved wood door that opened to the front of the house but I couldn't see anything else. Ranger put his hands on my shoulders and turned me to the corner of the room where there was an alcove between the doors to the kitchen and mudroom. I hadn't thought much of it but if that was where Ranger was pointing me then that is where I would look. As I got close I realised it wasn't an alcove but an opening to a short corridor that led to another room.

It turned out to be a large spa room with a sauna in the corner. The spa was big enough to hold half a dozen Rangemen in comfort and the views out were amazing. I had never seen snow this bright and in the last of the afternoon sun it was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. I could only imagine what it would look like the rest of the year when the snow cleared. This had quickly become my second favourite room in the house. Between the bath upstairs and the spa I could see myself turning into a prune, but I was willing to live with that. I heard a chuckle from behind me,

"Babe, much as I love prunes I would prefer you not to look like one. But if you want to try it then there are a couple of bathing costumes in your room."

"Only if you join me" I said as my mouth engaged before my brain.

I turned bright red and turned away from Ranger in embarrassment. His arms came around me, and his mouth moved close to my ear,

"I'd love to join you Babe." He said in a husky voice.

That was it, another pair of underwear ruined. A little voice in the back of my head reminded me that this was Ranger and we still hadn't had the talk and that I needed to tell him what I had decided on the drive up here. Ranger could tell that I had mentally backed away from him and turned me round in his arms, he moved his hands up, held my face in them and looked deep into my eyes almost as if he was looking into my soul. Obviously he found what he was looking for because he gave me a small smile and a tender kiss on the forehead.

"Come on let's go and start dinner, I think the spa can wait for now."

As I watched Ranger move around the kitchen gathering ingredients I wondered if there was anywhere that he didn't fit in, well other than the Burg that was. But that was fine because I knew that I didn't fit in there either. He put a bowl and some vegetables in front of me and handed me a knife, "just chop these into diced pieces about an inch should do it and put them in the bowl." As I chopped, with some difficulty due to the restricted movement of my arm, I gave some more thought to the changes I wanted to make to my life and to the people in it. I was thinking about Joe when I realised Ranger was trying to get my attention.

"Babe, looking a bit dangerous there."

I realised that I had stopped chopping the potatoes and started stabbing them; obviously my subconscious had some issues with Joe that it was taking out on them. I gave Ranger a small smile and decided that now was as good a time as any to see if he could help.

"Ranger, I've been thinking and I want to make some changes, I'm not sure if you can help me, but maybe you'll have some ideas. Can I talk to you about it?"

"Sure Babe, This will have to cook for a couple of hours, we can go to my office. Do you want to involve the others?"

"Not at the moment. Maybe later after I've talked to you."

"This doesn't have anything to do with the way you were attacking that potato does it." He asked with a raised eyebrow

I gave him a small smile, "maybe a little."

Ranger pulled me to him and gave me a hug, "I hope you're not planning on bringing that knife for our talk."

"I don't think that will be necessary unless you're planning on inviting Joe."

Ranger held me at arm's length and looked at me with his blank face in place. I realised at that point I had ESP, the message was coming across loud and clear, even without visual clues, that there was no way that Joe would ever step foot within 200 feet of this house. I could also tell he was a bit intrigued by what I was going to talk to him about. This thought made me feel warm inside, I had a connection with Ranger that was strong enough for me to know what he was thinking. I had always had a physical connection to him and could sense when he was around but this was something deeper and I felt happier than I had in a long time. I knew we still hadn't had the talk, and even if he didn't love me like I loved him, I knew he would still be my closest friend. I saw the blank face lift as he obviously saw something in mine and my Ranger was back.

The sizzle from the pan drew Rangers attention and I finished chopping the vegetables and gave them to him. He added them to the meat and spices already in the pot, the rich spicy smell already making me feel hungry and I could only imagine what it would taste like when the flavors had a chance to blend.

"Come on Babe, I have something that will keep you going til dinner." Ranger laughed as I dragged myself away from the pot. He was holding a plate that contained three muffins and a couple of bottles of water, what more could a girl want a sexy guy and muffins.

"Babe!"

I could feel my cheeks go red, Oops, obviously I had said that aloud, oh well, I stand by it. I wandered out of the kitchen and across the main room with Ranger following me shaking his head. Once we got to his study I suddenly realised that this was his room, possibly his sanctuary from the world and I was invading it as though it was mine. I stopped and gnawed my bottom lip waiting for him to say something,

"It's OK Babe, you're welcome in here any time, how about I light the fire and we sit in the reading chairs."

There goes the ESP again, but I was happy to sit and watch Ranger start the fire. The way he moved highlighted his toned physique as his clothes pulled taut across his body and his jeans molded to him and reminded me yet again of that incredible night. Once he was happy that the fire was properly set, he stood and turned to face me, "Anything else you would like before I sit Babe?"

I grabbed my water from the table and shook my head, "I'm fine Ranger, I just have one thing to ask, can you wait to the end of what I need to say before you answer me, I've been practising what I want to say in my head and I'm afraid I won't get it out right otherwise?"

Ranger sat and leant over taking hold of my hands, "Sure Babe, this is obviously important to you so it's important to me."

Ranger's close proximity to me was starting to scramble my brain, so I slipped my hands out of his and sat back taking a deep breath. Ranger gave me a heart warming smile and sat back giving me space.

"I've been thinking that I need to make some changes in my life, I need to work out who I am and what I want to do with my life. I have everyone telling me who I am and how I should act, who I should talk to and what sort of job I should have. It's got to the point that I've lost my way, I know I enjoy bounty hunting and to do that I need to get training and be less impetuous but I'm not sure if you and the guys are the best people to train me."

I paused at this point to see how Ranger had taken that last comment and was confused; he had an enigmatic look that I couldn't read but at least it wasn't the blank face he normally used if he didn't like something.

"I know all the Rangemen would do anything for me, but they don't want to do anything to provoke you and if I got hurt they know there would be repercussions. I need to be able to learn about me and what I can do with someone that doesn't have preconceived ideas about me, I want to be someone you can be proud of Ranger. I will understand if you can't or don't want to help."

I couldn't look at Ranger, would he think I wasn't worth the effort and that he wouldn't help me. I was rolling my water bottle in my hands and staring at the floor when one hand took my bottle from me and a finger hooked my chin and lifted my face so that I was looking at him. I was surprised at the look on his face, he was smiling and there was something more.

"I'm proud of you babe, proud that you know what you want and proud to be the one that you asked for help. As much as it pains me I know you are right, that I am probably not the person to help."

My face fell at the thought he wasn't going to help me.

"Babe let me finish, I may not be the right person but I think I know someone who would be, let me make a couple of calls and I'll tell you more. For the time being I think we should keep this to ourselves."

Ranger stood pulling me up with him, he pulled me tightly to him and we stood not saying anything, just enjoying the moment. Ranger broke the contact to move back a fraction and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. "How about you stay here and have a muffin while I go and check on the dinner?"

My reply was a roar from my stomach as it made its feelings heard. Ranger laughed a great laugh that vibrated through him and gave my body ideas it shouldn't have. I moved away and grabbed a muffin deciding that it was the safest option for the time being. I knew it was healthy but Ella had managed to make it taste as though it was full of fat and sugar. I watched as the back of Ranger moved out of my sight enjoying it to the last moment. I turned my thoughts back to the muffin in my hand and the conversation with Ranger. I wondered who he had in mind. I knew that he would tell me soon enough and whoever he chose would be the best.

My stomach reminded me that it was waiting for the muffin in my hand and who was I to ignore my stomach. The first muffin went down so well I followed it with a second and then the last on the plate. With that important task out of the way I took a closer look at the books Ranger had in his office. A lot of the books involved war or military strategy and biographies of great soldiers which I skipped over but there were also great classics like Lord of the Rings and Charles Dickens. Tucked in a corner I found a book of Sherlock Holmes stories. I got comfortable in the chair and was soon engrossed; not realising what time it was until Ranger came to tell me dinner was ready.

The stew was incredible and I struggled not to moan too much. I could tell from the looks on the guys faces that I wasn't having much luck. There was even dessert, tres leches cake, I thought I loved pineapple upside down cake but this was even better. Everyone but Ranger excused themselves, I don't think they could cope with my moaning; Ranger just shook his head at me. I shrugged my shoulders, hey I was too busy eating to talk, and started on my second piece. Once I finished I helped Ranger put everything in the dishwasher and joined the guys downstairs.

Ranger had said that he had some calls to make so Lester decided we should play Monopoly. They decided to take pity on me as the last time I had played a war game with them I had been annihilated before I realized we had started much to Lester's amusement. This turned out to be a bad idea, it started off alright and then the guys started making up their own rules. First they paired up and combined properties, so that I had to pay both of them when I landed on one of their squares, then they decided that more than one hotel was allowed and just multiplied the amount owed by the number of hotels they had on the square. This was followed by trying to knock hotels off squares with the dice; if you succeeded you got the hotel. Before long I was broke and the game had turned into battle for the board. Tank and Cal finally won when Bobby landed on Boardwalk where Tank and Cal had managed to stack ten hotels. I added it to the list of games that I wouldn't play with them. I was tired and my arm was starting to hurt, so I said goodnight. Bobby asked if I needed pain relief which I declined as I still had some upstairs in the kitchen. I was getting a drink of water to take my tablets with when Ranger came in.

"Babe, I've talked to someone who I know, they're willing to help you and I think the two of you will get on well. They are coming to Rangeman tomorrow afternoon so you can meet them. I can't tell you much more at the moment. "

"Thank you for helping me Ranger; I wasn't sure who else to ask."

"Any time Babe, remember there's no price."

I yawned as another wave of tiredness hit me.

"Come on Babe, it's time for bed," Ranger announced as he swung me up in his arms and carried me to the stairs.

"Ranger, I can walk."

"I know Babe, but I like to hold you, would you like some company tonight, just sleeping nothing more?" His gravelly tone sent shivers down my spine and I held on a bit tighter.

"I'm sure I can find room in my bed for you." I murmured back.

Ranger carefully placed me on the bed in my room, "I'll be back shortly Babe, I just need to change."

While he was gone I changed into one of his shirts that I had 'borrowed' and did what I needed in the bathroom. When I came out Ranger was lying on top of the bed wearing a pair of grey track pants.

I slipped between the sheets, "you're going to get a bit cold if you don't join me." I yawned.

In one fluid movement he had stood, pulled back the sheet and slid in next to me. "We can't have that" he whispered as his arm went round me and pulled me to him. I wrapped myself around him, gave him a kiss on his chest and went to sleep feeling that for once all was right with the world.

I woke to the feeling of fingers running up and down my arm just above the plaster and tilted my eyes up to look into a pair of dark brown almost black eyes. Ranger tilted my chin up and gave me a gentle kiss that was rapidly turning into something more when we were interrupted by banging on the door.

Lester's voice came from the other side of the door he obviously hadn't realized that Ranger was with me, "Come on sleeping beauty, are you awake or do you need Prince Lester to give you a wake up kiss?"

"Santos, mats at 0500 tomorrow" shouted Ranger.

I heard an "Oh Shit" from Lester and laughter from Bobby, Cal and Tank. I smiled at Ranger. "I think the mob is restless. We better go settle them down."

I looked at the clock, it was half past seven and Ranger was still in bed. Then I remembered that this was the first good night's sleep he had been able to have in a while and I was glad he wanted to spend it with me. He slid out of bed, and with a quick kiss and "I'll see you down stairs shortly, Babe" he was gone. I took my time in the shower, it was a good as it looked, and got dressed ready to help the guys pick up George and Daniel.

When I got downstairs, everyone was in the kitchen eating breakfast. Ranger had made sure the seat next door to him was empty and that Lester was sat at the other end of the table. There was a covered plate and when I lifted the lid I gave a happy smile. There was a pile of pancakes, Ok they didn't have syrup on them but there was stewed berries and cream, so I was happy.

"How come we don't get pancakes?" whined Lester.

"Cause I'm special and you're not" I said with a mouth full of food.

Lester stuck his tongue out at me and the others laughed. We cleaned up the breakfast things and got ready to move out. I was having a last look wishing we could have stayed for longer when Ranger came up behind me with a bag.

"Don't worry Babe, we can come back here again and stay for longer."

I turned and gave him a hug and then I realized what the bag he had in his hand was. With all the food that I had eaten I hadn't needed to raid my secret stash. He just shook his head and muttered something about me having Ella wrapped around my little finger. I grinned, waved my little finger at him and headed to the garage. This time Tank and Cal were sharing a vehicle, leaving me to travel with Ranger. I made sure that on the way out I looked at the outside of the house. It looked beautiful sitting in the snow and I could imagine it when the snow had cleared. I knew I had to come back.

Half an hour later we were sitting just down the road from George and Daniel. Earlier reconnaissance had told the guys there was a back door so Tank and Bobby were going to head there while Cal, Lester and Ranger were going in the front. I was staying in the vehicle because the guys decided I needed to protect my arm and they didn't want me slipping in the snow. They had given me an earpiece so I could hear what was going on.

It turned out that George and Daniel were outside the back of the cabin getting ready to go hunting. When they had seen Tank and Bobby and realized what they were there for they had decided to make a run for it. In their hurry to get away George had tripped while holding his gun, breaking his ankle and having forgotten to put the safety on had discharged the gun. The resulting shot had hit Daniel grazing his arm.

After they had both been treated by Bobby they were loaded in the SUVs and taken to the local hospital for further care while Ranger and I drove back to Trenton. Ranger was in his zone and I peered out of the window wondering about the person that he thought could help me. I was sure that who ever this guy was they probably ate grass and exercised at some ridiculous time of the morning but Ranger had never been wrong before so I knew I had to trust him.


	5. Chapter 5

_All characters that you recognise belong Janet Evanovich. I have just taken them out to play_

* * *

Stephanie's POV

As we pulled into RangeMan, I had a quick look around. I couldn't see Joe but my Spidey sense told me that something was off. Ranger could tell that something had unsettled me and raised one eyebrow at me. Just as I was telling him that I felt something was wrong, the door at the bottom of the stairs opened, Vince came out and headed towards the SUV.

"Report" barked Ranger.

"The chief got the report on what happened with Steph's arm and about Morelli hanging around RangeMan. He had Morelli in his office for a 'chat' and placed him on leave. Apparently Morelli is pissed and looking to cause trouble. Mrs. Plum has been phoning demanding to talk to Steph, reckons we have brainwashed her."

I rolled my eyes, "Can I get a restraining order against both of them. No contact for the next fifty years?"

Ranger laughed "Sorry Babe, we can probably get a restraining order, but unfortunately I don't think the judge will go for the fifty year plan."

"There is good news" Vince added. "The burg grapevine has finally got the correct story about Steph's arm. We reckon that's why Morelli's so pissed. Apparently your grandmother, Big Dog and Carl enlightened a few people and word got around. The photos Carl took didn't hurt the cause either."

I had to love the burg grapevine, although with the number of people watching the drama that night you would think they could have got it right initially. But hey why ruin a perfectly good story with the truth.

My stomach chose that moment to make its presence felt. Vince just smiled and Ranger looked at me.

"Babe, I think the beast has spoken, if you head up to seven I'll get Ella to send up some food. I need to stop on five but I'll join you shortly."

Vince headed back up the stairs while Ranger and I waited for the lift. When it got to five he dropped a kiss on my forehead and told me he would see me shortly. I carried on up to seven and made myself comfortable. The unease I had felt earlier had gone and I knew it was because I felt safe here. I was debating phoning my mother when Ella came in with lunch. She had made warm beef salad and chocolate brownies for dessert. My decision was made; my mother could wait a bit longer.

I had just started to eat when Ranger joined me and saw the brownies that I had carefully put by my side of the table.

"That stuff will kill you Babe." He said with a shake of his head.

Ella came out of the bedroom having just put the things away from our trip and organizing the items for laundry.

"Carlos leave the poor girl to eat her food in peace," she scolded.

I laughed at the look on his face. He was pouting like a small child that had been told off.

"You enjoy those brownies dear and ignore Carlos. It's good to see someone who appreciates my cooking."

She gave me a hug, shook her head at Ranger and left.

"Babe" he said with a smile, "you have corrupted my aunt, what am I going to do with you?"

I just waggled my little finger at him and carried on eating.

I was just finishing my last brownie when Rangers phone rang. A merry man was obviously on the other end because Ranger did his one word responses and hung up. One day I was going to teach them all some phone manners.

"I'm going back down to five, come down when you're done; I've got someone for you to meet."

He gave me a kiss on the head and a hug and left me to finish eating. I was in two minds about going downstairs. I knew it was whoever Ranger thought could help me and although I had asked him for help and trusted him I was still a bit apprehensive. As my other option was to phone my mother, I decided this was the lesser of two evils. Ranger would also come up and get me if I was much longer and that could be embarrassing.

When the lift opened on the fifth floor and I stepped round the corner I saw two men standing with the guys in the control room. I was in shock and I had the urge to turn and head back upstairs. These couldn't be the people that Ranger had in mind to help me. If people thought the merry men were daunting, they had nothing on these two guys. The little voice in my head told me that they would be really handy to have if I ran into Joe. I was still pondering this thought when a sound from the stairs behind me told me the others were back from dropping off Daniel and George. Bobby filled me in with the hospital visit, luckily George had only sprained his ankle and Daniel had a minor flesh wound. It hadn't taken long to get them patched up, give a report to the local police and get them back to Trenton and into the hands of the TPD. The sound of the door opening behind me and an "Oh fuck" from behind me made me realize that Lester hadn't been with the others. Bobby and I looked at him.

"Brown, Have you seen who's in the control room?" he hissed. "You know what that means don't you?"

I wasn't expecting what came next. Bobby looked at the guys, looked back at Lester and started laughing so hard there were tears running down his face,

"Santos, you are screwed, you do realize that don't you?" he finally got out.

"Bobby you shouldn't laugh at Buttercup like that" a female voice said with a hint of laughter.

"Buttercup?" I asked Lester, thoroughly confused as the comment sent Bobby into fits of laughter again and I could see Tank and Ranger with big smiles on their faces.

Next to Ranger, there was a woman who was a couple of inches taller than me. She was stunning and I felt dowdy next to her. She looked fit like Jeanne Ellen, but she didn't have the sharp facial features and she had curves in all the right places. She almost looked as though she had stepped out of the pages of a beauty magazine.

She turned to me held out her hand and gave me a friendly smile. "Hi Steph, I'm Alex."

My Burg manners automatically kicked in and my hand shot out to shake hers. "Nice to meet you" I replied as I looked in confusion at Ranger.

"Ranger, can I assume from the look on poor Stephanie's' face that she has no idea who I am?" She asked as she raised an eyebrow at him.

Oh great I thought I must be the only person in the world who can't raise one eyebrow. It occurred to me that Ranger looked a bit uncomfortable, something that I had never seen before and it made me curious to know who this woman was.

"I think Steph and I need to get acquainted and as you seem to be having difficulty I'll do it myself. " She told Ranger. "In fact she seems to be in shock I think she needs sugar." She added with a wink.

She turned and looked at Lester, who for some reason was looking very uncomfortable, maybe being called Buttercup in front of everyone had dented his hard ass persona. "Lester, I assume you know what Steph likes, take Marco and Silas with you they may need to know for the future."

I decided then and there I liked this woman, she obviously understood the importance of sugar. I was also very curious about how she knew these guys and I was hoping that she would tell me more about them, especially why she called Lester Buttercup.

The two guys I had seen in the control room, nodded to the Junior and Hal who were watching the screens and joined Lester. When they got closer I noticed that one of them looked sort of familiar. Then it dawned on me that he looked like Lester. His eyes were brown and his hair was longer but the more I looked the more I could see the resemblance – _He looks like Lester I wonder if they are related_. I had obviously been staring at him intently because when he spoke I jumped.

"Unfortunately I am related to this joker" he said as he slapped Lester on the back. "I'm his older, definitely better looking brother Marco and this is Silas." Silas nodded his head towards me in acknowledgement and they both smiled.

I could feel my face getting red; once again my mouth had obviously engaged before my brain. My need to divert attention from myself caused me to open my mouth again.

"Hi, I'm Steph, why do you call Lester 'Buttercup'?" – _I wonder if all the Santos men are sexy when they smile._

"It's great to know you think I'm sexy and as to why we call Lester 'Buttercup' that's a long story that I am willing to tell you about when we have time" he answered as he smirked at Lester.

He turned to Alex "We'll be back soon boss".

Then he turned back to Lester and slung his arm around him. "Come on bro, you've been holding out on me. Let's go and get the most charming Steph her sugar fix. "

As they headed to the door Ranger put his arm around me. "Come on Babe, how about the three of us go to my office and I'll explain. Tank I'll be off line for a while, go have a chat with the chief and give Harrison a call, we might need his services. "

I knew Harrison was the RangeMan lawyer and I wondered what had happened for Ranger to require his services. But of more importance was to find out who Alex was and why she was here with Lester's brother and Silas.

Ranger had a round table and four seats in his office for times he had meetings with small groups or he needed to spread out. He guided me to one of those seats while Alex sat opposite me. Once he had got us drinks and glasses he pulled his chair round so he sat close to me. I noticed Alex smile at that and wondered what she was thinking.

Ranger took my hands and turned the chairs so we were facing each other.

"Babe, I should have told you about Alex earlier but I didn't realize that they were going to get here so soon. She is the person I phoned when you said you were looking for someone to help you. I've known her a long time and I trust her to help you but you don't have to make a decision yet. I have some things to do so I'll leave you to talk to Alex and you can let me know what you decide. " I'll be in Tank's office if you need me." He stood and kissed my forehead, his lips burning a promise there of something I couldn't quite understand. With a nod to Alex he turned and left closing the door softly behind him, my eyes following him to the last moment.

"I never thought I would see the day", the words startling me from my thoughts, I turned back to look at Alex. She had an enigmatic look on her face, not the blank look that they guys used but just as difficult to read.

"I know what Ranger told me but I think I would like to hear what you want Steph, I would like to help." Her voice was sincere and I knew she would understand.

A knock on the door interrupted us and it opened a short way, a box held by a hand that I recognized as belonging to Lester coming through the gap. I would recognize that box anywhere it was the biggest size they had at Tasty Pastry and I could feel myself start to drool.

I grabbed the box with my good hand and Lester who had been holding onto the door handle half fell into the room. I grinned "Should be more aware of your surroundings, Santos." Laughter from behind him told me that the others were in the hallway.

Alex looked at the box in my hand and then through the now open doorway. Silas had another smaller box in his hand, she looked at him the corner of her mouth lifting and he looked back shrugging his shoulders in reply.

"You realize if Ranger sees those it will be an extra half hour in the gym" she laughed at them.

She turned to me "I think we will probably be better off in my apartment for this conversation Steph, we will be more comfortable and less likely to be disturbed."

Alex had been given one of the apartments on the fourth floor where we made our selves comfortable. I had opened the box to find an assortment of nearly everything they stocked at Tasty Pastry. I bet that there had never been this much contraband in the RangeMan building before and I wondered what Ranger would say. Alex had grabbed plates, napkins, a knife and two bottles of water which she placed in front of us. I was trying to work out what to say when she spoke,

"Ok Steph, let's start at the beginning, just talk, it doesn't matter if it seems to make sense or not, once I get the big picture we can look at things in more detail."

I grabbed a donut and started talking. I told her all about breaking my arm jumping off the garage because I wanted to be Wonder Woman as a child, my encounters with Joe at six and sixteen and how he had written about me all over Trenton. I told her about running him over when he came back from the navy, she laughed at that. Then I told her about the Dick and finding him and Joyce on my new dining room table, losing my job as a buyer and how I had blackmailed my cousin Vinnie for a job. She looked impressed at that.

I realized that I had finished my donut and grabbed another one from the box as Alex grabbed us another bottle of water each. I went on to tell her about Connie getting Ranger to help me and how he had been there ever since. How he had supported me and given me work when I had no money, cars that I had blown up and how he had given me the merry men to break. She looked at me oddly so I explained that I called them the merry men, because they always stood up for what was morally right. I told her about him giving me shelter, the deal I had made with him and his letting me stay on the seventh floor. At that a look came over her face that I didn't recognize but I could tell she was filing that piece of information. Then she asked about my arm. I thought about it, not knowing what to say but realizing that I had told her everything else. I told her about Joe coming back into my life as my first FTA. My mother's pressuring me to marry him and him trying to get me quit my job and give up my friendship with Ranger and the guys. How I didn't want the Burg life and how I enjoyed what I did. I finished with how Joe had broken my arm and the latest saga with him and my journey of self-discovery on the drive to the cabin. When I finished I realized that I had been talking for more than two hours and that the contents of the box was greatly diminished. I also realized something else, I felt better than I had in a long time.

Alex looked at me a serious look on her face, was she going to want to help someone like me. Would I be worth the effort?

"I think Stephanie Plum that I would be happy to help you. Once your arm is better we need to go somewhere when people don't know you. Marco, Silas and I can teach you what you need to know and when you come back to Trenton you can come back as Wonder Woman. Let me have a think and a chat to the guys and we'll put a plan together for tomorrow."

I could see Alex mulling over something as though she was trying to work out the meaning of life, finally she looked at me again.

"Steph don't take offence at this but I think your mother may need some serious help. I think she had some big self-image issues that she is projecting on to you. As for Joe I think he wants someone to control and he has fixated on you and his idea of what he can make you. Unfortunately places like the burg are very difficult to escape; their unspoken rules and expectations are ingrained almost from the day you are born. They can see you about to break away and will do just about anything to stop you. "

I couldn't believe how relived I felt that Alex was going to help me. I should have known that Ranger would come through for me; he'd never failed me in the past. Alex almost sounded like she was speaking from experience – _I wonder how she knows about the burg mentality._

A laugh broke through my pondering. Oops; I obviously said that out loud.

"As you've told me all about your life let me tell you what I can about mine."

A knock on the door stopped what she was about to say, "Enter" she called.

Ranger came in followed by Bobby, Lester, Silas, Marco and Tank; they all looked slightly on edge. Alex just shook her head and raised one eyebrow at them. I was going to have to learn how to do that.

"Take a seat, gentlemen."

I watched as Alex paid attention to where everyone sat. Ranger moved me slightly so he could sit with his back in the corner of the couch, my back to his front, his arms wrapped round me and my head leant on his shoulder. Silas and Marco grabbed the other sofa and Tank took a chair. That left one chair for Bobby and Lester to fight over. After a quick round of rock, paper, scissors Bobby got the chair with Lester sitting on the floor. I noticed that Lester made sure he sat away from his brother; this was something I was going to have to investigate further.

A serious look came across Alex's face as she looked at everyone. "Stephanie and I have had a long talk and from what I have heard I have decided that everyone here needs training in holding a conversation, phone manners and being sensitive to a woman's needs."

I couldn't see Ranger's face but I could imagine the look based on the ones that the others were giving her. They looked horrified and I was sure that Tank was about five shades paler than usual. I had seen them go into high risk takedowns with less fear showing. Alex looked at all of them, turned to me and smiled.

"I know I shouldn't provoke them like that, but I just can't resist it. Some people can be so gullible. You realize that they were looking worried when they came in because they were afraid we had been talking about them and that I had told you all their deep, dark secrets."

I couldn't help it I started to laugh, I had never met anyone who could provoke a reaction in the guys like Alex could, and I was definitely going to have to find out more about her.

Ranger moved me so he could look me in the eye, his mouth was curved in one of his almost smiles. "Babe, I'm not sure I should be letting Alex near you, I can see the two of you being trouble."

"Too late Ranger," I said with an overly big smile on my face," I think Alex is a wonderful choice, I wish you had introduced us before."

There was a large sigh that I thought came from Lester followed by him saying in a melodramatic tone,

"Doomed, we are all doomed."


End file.
